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Pz.Kpw VI Ausf. B 'Tiger II'
History The forerunner of the Tiger II, the Tiger I, proved to be more than a match for all allied armor units. However, in 1943, due to the needs on the Eastern Front, Hitler agreed to the development to a successor tank to the Tiger with improved armament and armor protection. Henschel, fearing that Porsche may overtake them this time, proposed an upgrade to the Tiger I with a sloped 102 mm upper glacis plate. However the upgrade did not rectify many of the suspension & transmission issues the Tiger I initially had, so it was turned down. The contest eventually came down to both Henschel & Porsche designs, and while Porsche's design included a rear gunner seat and core engine changes, Henschel's design came out on top. But Porsche's effort did not go to waste, 50 of the Porsche-design turrets were mounted on the hull of the Henschel design. Henschel & Porsche Turrets (These two Wikipedia photos show the difference between the two turret designs.) There are many differences between the two turrets. Starting off with the Porsche turret, which is actually not truly a Porsche designed turret. Both turrets for both proposed designs were made by Krupp. The first noticeable difference is the rounded turret face, which created a shot trap at the bottom. The face of the gun mantlet was somewhat sloped, and the sides of the turret were more sloped, giving it the pronounced bulge for the commander's cupola. The Henschel turret was more simplified. It has a flat 185 mm plate, with a circular gun mantlet with little sloping. The sides of the turret were less angled, and both removed the bulge for the commander's cupola and allowed for more ammunition storage in the turret. Königstiger? The name Königstiger was informally assigned to the Tiger II. In German, Königstiger translates to 'Bengal Tiger'. It is sometimes translated to "Royal Tiger", and more often by American forces & incorrectly as "King Tiger", which has become one of the more well known names for the Tiger II post-war. Operational History The Tiger II saw action on both the Eastern & Western fronts. On both fronts, it proved even more troublesome to maintain than the Tiger I. Many were simply destroyed by their crews when they broke down. However, when it did see combat, it was capable of knocking out a T-34 at ranges of beyond 2000 meters, and a Sherman at almost 3000 meters. The Tiger II was still vulnerable to 122 mm and 152 mm high-explosive shells, where the shockwave itself could knock out the crew. In testing, it was proved a 152 mm HE shell could have enough force to rip off the turret. The turret could be penetrated by 17-pounder (3 in.) APDS (armor-piercing discarding sabot) rounds, 76.2 mm M93 HVAP (high-velocity armor-piercing) rounds, 90 mm T30E16 HVAP rounds and 90 mm T44 HVAP rounds. However, combat records state that no Tiger II has been frontally penetrated in combat. The Tiger II's frontal protection was significantly highlighted when an M36 Jackson tank destroyer scored 8 successive hits on a Tiger II's frontal armor, but all of them failed to penetrate. Only 1 penetrated the muzzle brake, preventing the crew from returning fire, forcing them to bail out. However it's protection from the side was less impressive. 3 Tiger IIs were on the road to Ogledow, and were all knocked out by a single T-34-85. It's height also made it hard to miss, and became a magnet for allied close air support. So you have a nice gun & ridiculous armor, but not much else. The problem was that Germany's economy simply couldn't afford so many heavy tanks. A single Tiger II easily costed over 300,000 Reichsmarks. A single Panther costed about 110,000-120,000 Reichsmarks. For one Tiger II, you could've had 3 Panthers, or even Panzer IVs. It was the penultimate design that last proved that Germany still believed in the 'bigger is better' concept. The Tiger II later spawned the Jagdpanzer VI Jagdtiger tank destroyer. Specifications *Type: Heavy tank *Place of origin: Germany *In service: 1944 *Produced: 1943 *Number built: 492 *Weight: 70 tonnes *Length: 7.38 m - 10.286 m *Width: 3.755 m *Height: 3.09 m *Crew: 5 *Armor: **Upper glacis: 150 mm **Lower glacis: 100 mm **Hull side: 80 mm **Hull rear: 80 mm **Turret front: 185 mm **Turret sides: 80 mm **Turret rear: 80 mm **Additional track links could be put of the tanks to provide extra (but limited) protection *Armament **Main gun: 8.8 cm KwK 43 L/71 (80-86 rounds) **Secondary armament: x2 7.92mm MG 34 (5,850 rounds) *Engine: Maybach HL 230 P-30 (690 HP) *Suspension: torsion-bar suspension *Speed: 24 mph Gallery Tiger II.png|Tiger II without Zimmerit coating, in panzer grey.